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Healthy Communities Health and Wellness Across America AETNA 2009 AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY CALENDAR Building Together Healthy African American Communities Creating healthy communities does take a village. It takes a village of people and programs dedicated to delivering health and wellness messages across America. This calendar looks at 12 programs designed to empower African Americans to take control of their health. It shares ways all African Americans can begin to change their lives. This could be as simple as getting an annual health screening or stepping out more often to walk with friends. It might mean researching new ideas for healthful cooking or Creating healthy communities searching the web to learn how long it takes to work off calories through exercise. Local and national organizations such as the Center for Black Women’s Wellness, American Diabetes Association, 100 Black Men and Colgate-Palmolive Company have created is a challenge that we all programs that reach directly into African American communities. They seek out cities and neighborhoods that most need help balancing health and ethnic disparities. They educate. They believe. They create impact by uniting people around a common theme. must address together. To Top-ranked tennis player and health advocate Arthur Ashe, Jr. believed in community- based intervention. As Dr. Ruth C. Browne, chief executive officer of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health points out in her introduction, this is done by bringing messages be successful does require a to people in places where they congregate such as churches, salons and barbershops, community centers and supermarkets. village — we cannot do it alone. Aetna is pleased to present its 28th annual African American History Calendar, celebrating health and wellness across America. The people and programs that you will read about will hopefully inspire and motivate you and those around you. Creating healthy communities is a challenge that we all must address together. To be successful does require a village — we cannot do it alone. THE ROOT OF WELLNESS BEGINS IN OUR COMMUNITIES By Ruth C. Browne, M.P.P., M.P.H., Sc.D. We all have the desire to be healthy. Health is our right. Maintaining that health Health and wellness messages in these settings can focus on asthma; diabetes; by paying attention to our mind, body and spirit must continue to be our goal. cancer (breast, prostate and colorectal); heart health; sexual health; obesity; physical activity; smoking cessation; and many more health concerns. Unfortunately, in African American communities maintaining good health is not always easy. For example, many people have begun to access health information Our health care system has spent decades creating messages and using approaches in very sophisticated ways. But there are many African Americans who remain that have not worked. More than 70 percent of excess deaths in the United States disconnected from basic lifesaving health information. (preventable years of life lost) are attributable to social/environmental factors and individual behavior. So how do we address this challenge? How do we ensure that we get healthful messages delivered in urban neighborhoods? The move to community-based and participatory approaches has the potential for tremendous success. In our work, we engage community resources on behalf of the It takes looking at the issue of prevention with thoughtful vision. It requires taking community’s health. It’s an asset-driven education and empowerment approach. responsibility, not just for ourselves, but for our communities. Arthur Ashe, Jr. once said: “To achieve greatness start where you are, use what you have and do what Today, more and more evidence points to the success of tailoring healthful messages you can.” for racially and ethnically diverse communities. This is a best practice for community health education and behavioral intervention. Using nontraditional settings such as Start where you are. This is your community. For our work at the Arthur Ashe beauty salons as campuses for health education may help us move faster to reach Institute for Urban Health we chose Brooklyn, New York. It’s a laboratory for more African Americans. We are talking to people in settings where they are most developing health care models. Here we have diversity that crosses cultures, comfortable. If we can engage people in places where they normally conduct their races, ethnicity and religions. daily lives, messages of wellness may be much better received. Use what you have. These are the assets in your community. They are the people who work in the places where people naturally congregate — people such as hairstylists, barbers, librarians, ministers, business owners, community leaders Dr. Ruth C. Browne is a nationally recognized visionary and innovator and teachers. in the field of urban health and In Brooklyn, there are nearly 1,500 beauty salons, more than 800 worshipping education. She is the chief executive officer of the congregations, 700 barbershops, 300 laundromats and 60 high schools. These Arthur Ashe Institute for are places that can be found in your own community. Urban Health. Do what you can. Ashe believed in community-based intervention — and we are carrying out that vision. We do this by educating those who are closest to the people we want to reach. We have begun to use this rich network of personal care providers and establishments to spread health messages. We empower this network by teaching them how to communicate prevention messages so they can share those messages with the people they serve each day. TM Walking for Wellness A PROGRAM OF THE BLACK WOMEN’S HEALTH IMPERATIVE WASHINGTON, DC While visiting New York City in the ’90s, Byllye Y. Avery remembers seeing African American women stepping out at lunchtime to walk. She wondered if black women walking might be something that could be done in a more organized fashion. “It didn’t cost a lot, and all you had to do was get yourself up and out the door,” said Avery, who still goes to the gym four days a week at the crack of dawn. So, as founder of the Black Women’s Health Imperative (Imperative), she began the organization’s Walking for Wellness program, aimed at reaching African American women and their families. Through organized walking, they form bonds and spread the message of wellness. “We get black women walking and talking to improve their sense of self and well-being,” said Eleanor Hinton Hoytt, the Imperative’s current president and CEO. “There is such a high rate of obesity and depression in the black community. Through health promotion and prevention, it is our goal to help reduce the risk of developing diseases.” The Imperative’s walking events are held at different times throughout the country. In September 2008, the Imperative hosted a national walk held at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to commemorate its 25th anniversary. Thousands of people participated. Walking for Wellness encourages women to bring along friends and family on their walks. “Everybody needs it, especially with the shape that we are in today,” Avery said. “If a woman changes her life, then she will see to it that her children and her significant other change their lives, too.” Walking together helps women feel united and much less isolated. “My 100-year-old mother always points out that we are less neighborly than we used to be. To promote longevity and quality of life, we need to be happy. To be happy, we need to create a community for people through wellness,” Avery added. Hinton Hoytt says taking responsibility for oneself is first and foremost. Through the Imperative’s programs, including the walk, they have seen women transform their lives. “Women have learned to believe in themselves. They have found a safe space to be okay. This takes courage,” she said. She recalls a woman in Los Angeles who relied on the help of a walker to move around. She became involved in a walking group. Because of the renewed faith in her ability to walk, the woman was able to reduce her medication and stop using her walker. Wellness initiatives are gaining momentum among African American families, Hinton Hoytt said. Family reunions are becoming an opportunity to address health, wellness, illness and fitness. “It is much more effective to address whatever it is that prevents us from being who we want to be with family. You can make a pledge as a family to do something about it,” she said. Hinton Hoytt added, “We all have to make the choice to move our bodies, whether it’s dancing, crawling, running or walking; whatever it takes to embrace physical fitness. Through our programs, we are empowering women, connecting them to their bodies and themselves.” Byllye Y. Avery, M.Ed. Founder Black Women’s Health Imperative AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY CALENDAR www.aetnaafricanamericancalendar.com sun mon tues wed thurs fri sat 1 2 3 JANUARY 1863: Abraham Lincoln 1965: Rev. Dr. Martin 1624: William Tucker, issues Emancipation Luther King Jr. calls for fi rst African child born Proclamation. nonviolent protests if in America. 2009 Alabama blacks are not allowed to register New Year’s Day and vote. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1971: The Congressional 1943: George 1831: The World 1890: William B. Purvis 1811: Charles Deslondes 1866: Fisk University 1864: George Black Caucus organized. Washington Carver, Anti-Slavery Convention patents fountain pen. leads slave revolt in founded in Nashville, Washington Carver, agricultural scientist opens in London. Louisiana. Tennessee. agricultural scientist and inventor, dies. and inventor, born. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1940: Benjamin O. 1948: Supreme Court 1990: L. Douglas Wilder 1975: William T. Coleman 1929: Rev. Dr. Martin 1978: NASA names 1942: Three-time Davis Sr. becomes U.S.

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